Partners In Crime
by GoddessOfConquest
Summary: In Zetsubou City, crime and despair run rampant. It is here that the town has taken on the name of "Despair's City, Hope's Soldiers". Couples, even trios and groups of criminals come to this city to find solace from their rampages. Here, in this town, criminals find peace quiet in the town with few rules. This is their story. [non-despair AU; crime AU; multiship; character death


**Partners In Crime**

**Prelogue: They'll Never Take Us Alive!**

_In Zetsubou City, crime and despair run rampant. It is here that the town has taken on the name of "Despair's City, Hope's Soldiers". Couples, even trios and groups of criminals come to this city to find solace from their rampages. Here, in this town, criminals find peace quiet in the town with few rules. This is their story._

"Come on, honey, we're almost there."

"Leon, I'm tired."

"I know you are, but look - Zetsu City is right there! Can you see the lights?"

The running footsteps of a man donning a white hoodie slow, and eventually stop as he turns around to face the girl behind him. Over his shoulder was a large bag, and his other hand currently held the hand of the girl behind him. "Look," he smiled at the other, "do you see those lights over there, doll?"

The girl, a teenage girl with long, blue hair, panted as she caught her breath, looking up at the other. Her bright, blue eyes blinked as she looked over at the various lights of the city. She smiled, nodding as she looked up. "Y-Yeah. I see them. What is it?"

The boy in the hoodie pulled down his hood, revealing bright reddish-orange hair spiked up in every which way but straight, the spikes bouncing occasionally whenever a raindrop hit one. "That, doll, is Zetsubou City. It's a place where the police don't care come, and people like us can sit back and relax for a while." He smiled. "Once we get there, we can find us a place to stay, and we don't ever have to do this again."

"Promise?" The girl said, smiling up at him.

"I promise." The boy squeezed her hand. "Now come on, babydoll. Let's go home."

The city was relatively clean for a criminal's town. Then again, there's the saying that when you have to fight to the death for your things, you promise you'll take care of them. The boy led the girl into what looked like a bar of some sort, setting her up with a table. He set the large bag that he was carrying at her feet, and he made his way to the bar. He wiped the rain from his forehead, looking over at the bartender.

The bartender was a younger man, with white hair flooded in black streaks. A half-smirk rested on his face as Leon walked away with a basket of fries for the lady and a tall glass of Budweiser for himself.

"Will we really be safe here, Leon?" The girl asked.

The boy's name was Kuwata Leon, and he was a senior in highschool, a true baseball prodigy who had gotten wrapped up in something he shouldn't. He was on his way to the big time, too; wanting to start up a rock band with the lovely girl he was holding hands with and a guy who he used to run around with named Mondo. In all honesty, Leon didn't know whether or not they were going to be okay. He knew that police didn't dare come into this town or be outrun by the hundreds of criminals who resided in the large town. "Of course. We'll make some friends to protect us, and we have enough money to work on clearing our names."

The girl in front of him was Maizono Sayaka, a young girl with a voice of gold, a senior in highschool as well, and Leon's girlfriend of about six months. She got wrapped up into whatever it was that Leon did, promising that she wouldn't leave his side. And she didn't; she's here with him now, isn't she? Sayaka nodded in understanding as she munched on some of the french fries that Leon brought her.

"Hey, think of it this way!" Leon smiled, grinning. "It's like a really long summer vacation! You and I against the world, just like that Fukawa girl used to write about? Hm?"

Sayaka cracked a smile at the redhead in front of her, blinking. "Yeah, that's nice." Her cerulean eyes glanced up at the smiling boy. "Did you… did you get what you needed?"

"Yes, ma'am, I did." He smiled, patting the holster under his hoodie. "Just for you, babe. Whenever some sleazebag tries to grab you, I'll pop one of these in their knee, and we'll go running."

"Promise?"

"I promise."

As if on cue, the door opened, and a girl with long, violet hair entered, hiding the majority of her body and face with a black trenchcoat. Leon shrugged, telling Sayaka to just ignore it; criminals came in all shapes and sizes, after all. He patted her hand, which his was resting atop of, and smiled reassuringly. Sayaka, nervous, simply continued to eat the fries given to her. She drummed her sapphire nails against the desk, looking over.

"She's coming over here," Sayaka mentioned, looking up. As Leon turned around to meet the other, he arched an eyebrow at the violet-haired girl. Blinking his blue eyes at her, he asked the girl who she was and what she was doing there. After all, a strange girl with too much time on her hands who looked too clean to be in this rathole of a city? That wasn't something you'd see on a regular basis.

The girl said nothing, instead pulling up a chair and arching a thin eyebrow. She slid off the large, black trenchcoat, revealing a short leather jacket atop of what looked like a black suit with a pencil skirt. She slowly crossed one leg over the other, snapping a gloved hand for a drink. After a moment, the young monochromatic bearlike man brought her a drink, setting it in front of her, walking away by making a strange noise, "Upupupupu…"

"Hello," she greeted the couple, taking a sip of what looked like brandy, "you two seem harmless enough for me to approach without worry of having my hands chopped off." The woman set the glass down, looking from Sayaka to Leon. "You needn't worry about me. I'm not here to hurt you, to turn you in, or to take your money. I am simply here to ask a question."

"Make it quick, lady," Leon growled, pulling back the unzipped side of his white hoodie to reveal the glock that he had purchased. "I don't have all day."

"Ah, but I do," the woman smiled, "and I know that you, my friend, are not like the others here. Allow me introduce myself. My name is Kirigiri Kyouko, and as you may or may not have pieced together, I am not a criminal, like you." She chuckled, taking a drink of the liquor, eventually downing it, placing the glass upside down. "I am a private detective."

Leon froze in his spot, and Sayaka gripped the glass she was currently holding.

"Oh, don't worry," she chuckled, "you two are not my targets right now." She leaned back in the chair, smirking a devilish smirk that would be imprinted into the backs of their minds forever.

"Do you two know of a man named Makoto Naegi?"


End file.
